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Offbeat News for 4 November
By DAVID SIMS
TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist
News that didn't seem to fit anywhere else:
New competitive intelligence from Keynote Systems shows LoveHappens and AmericanSingles.com receiving the highest customer satisfaction rankings from online customers, but being edged out by Yahoo! Personals in terms of success in online customer acquisition.
Keynote also reports that the online dating industry could be suffering fall-out from a general lack of customer confidence and trust in the statements and profiles of some online dating site members. ("You mean… those aren't real?" "You mean… you're not really a nuclear physicist who enjoys climbing Mt. Everest?")
According to the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Online Dating Web Site Customers, LoveHappens, which was launched by Tickle earlier this year, and AmericanSingles.com are the top sites in the online dating industry in terms of delivering a positive online customer experience.
Keynote's second annual study of customer experience at online dating sites is based on research with 1,150 customers as they interacted with leading online dating web sites. A companion study, based on research with 2,000 prospective customers, found Yahoo! Personals to be leading in the competition for new online dating customers.
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Starting today, Zoom and Go.com, the multi-media website featuring traveler videos and in-depth hotel reviews, will make its entire library of video clips available to Apple video iPod users. With a collection of approximately 10,000 videos, Zoom And Go.com boasts what it claims is the Internet's largest collection of video clips shot by travelers around the world
"We're the only consumer travel site offering this kind of rich media content," said Jonathan Haldane, CEO and founder of Zoom And Go.com. "With the new video iPod and Zoom and Go's unique content, travelers can create a portable and personalized video travel guide for any destination.
"Wherever you're heading, you can download dozens of Zoom and Go clips onto your iPod, so other travelers can give you face-to-face advice on where to stay and what to do before you go, or even while you're walking the city's streets," Haldane said.
Zoom and Go.com is the first website delivering its complete video collection to iPod users. Current clips range from on-camera hotel reviews and insider advice about tourist attractions to tips from travelers on-camera about the best hotel beds and finding bargains overseas. Zoom And Go will have video for most major destinations and hotels by the end of this year.
Travelers can upload their videos from digital cameras or digital video cameras and have other travelers watch them on their iPods. The most popular traveler videos can be played here: http://www.ZoomAndGo.com/popularvideos.
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Vince Young is quickly running out of space on his trophy shelf. For the third time this season, the University of Texas quarterback has been selected by fans as the Cingular Wireless/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week, the only major college football honor determined exclusively by fans.
Young won this week's award in a landslide, garnering 49% of fan voting after passing for 239 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 267 yards -- setting a school record for a quarterback -- and two touchdowns in the Longhorns' 47-28 win over Oklahoma State Saturday.
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The overall batteries market has seen substantial growth since 2002, yet sales through FDM fell during 2002-2005, according to Research & Markets. An expanding portable digital device market is the biggest new driver of battery sales, particularly MP3 players and digital cameras, both of which are high-drain devices.
Another aspect of the market is the divide between higher-priced, new technology batteries, such as rechargeables, alkaline, or lithium, and value-priced "heavy duty" or "super heavy duty" batteries. Evidence of the effect of lower priced batteries is reflected in the 9% decline in dollar sales of batteries from 2002-2005 through FDM (excluding Wal-Mart) while unit sales increased 1%.
This trend may be reduced, but likely not reversed, by a price hike that major manufacturers put through in 2005.
Though secondary (rechargeable) battery sales account for only a small portion of overall battery sales, the segment is expected to grow more quickly than the primary batteries segment. There is also the potential that next-generation primary batteries will emerge to upset the current status quo, with a leading example being Panasonic's Oxyride battery, introduced in the U.S. in June 2005, which the company claims gained 10% share in Japan in its first year.
David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles by David Sims, please visit:
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